Government extends South Africa’s state of disaster as it nears two-year mark

COOPERATIVE Governance and Traditional Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has extended South Africa’s national state of disaster by a further month.

The state of disaster is now set to expire on 15 March 2022. This would make it nearly 24 months the country has been under a state of disaster since it was first declared at the end of March 2020.

“The extension follows a special Cabinet meeting to determine the extent to which the management of the Covid-19 pandemic still requires the existence of the National State of Disaster and the legal framework to manage the virus outside the Disaster Management Act,” the minister said.

“This will allow the government to establish alternative measures to detect and contain further outbreaks.”

Under the current regulations, nearly all economic and social restrictions have been lifted, and civil liberties are unrestricted, Dlamini-Zuma said. She added that South Africa and the rest of the